Stoic Week 2014 & Stoicism Today Event in London

Stoic Week 2014 will take place starting November 24th. Please visit the site for details.

Stoic Week 2014 will be happening from November 24th-30th – save the dates!

N.B. During Stoic Week, the blog will feature personal stories and testimonies about how Stoicism has been useful in people’s lives. If you would like to write on how Stoicism has helped you (the account can be written under a pseudonym, if you like), then please get in touch.

If you are planning on organising an event during Stoic Week, whether a talk or a meet-up group, for example, please also get in touch. I’ll be putting together a page with all the different events going on.

More details about Stoic Week 2014, which was followed by over 2,200 people last year, will be announced in due course, but for the moment here are details of a Stoicism Today Event in London, to be held on Saturday, November 29th, at Queen Mary, University of London. You can book your place at the event here.

You can see a video, giving an overview of last year’s London event here:

And the roundtable discussion from last year:

More about the 2014 event:

“This is the second annual Stoicism Today event, and the biggest global event on Stoic philosophy in 2014. It brings together leading experts on Stoicism and its modern relevance.

We will explore:

Practical advice for Stoic resilience and flourishing

Ancient techniques for transforming the self, changing habits and facing adversity – and the scientific evidence for them

How modern psychotherapy draws on Stoic wisdom

How people use Stoicism at work, in professional sports, in prison and elsewhere

How Stoicism is related to other wisdom traditions like Buddhism and Taoism

We also want to hear from you about how you find Stoicism helpful

The morning will have key-note talks and a plenary panel, then the afternoon will offer five different workshops for attendees to take part in. The event also sees the launch of a new book, ‘Stoicism Today: Selected Writings’, which includes contributions by many of the event’s speakers.

Speakers include:

Professor Christopher Gill, emeritus professor at Exeter University

Professor Angie Hobbs, professor of the public understanding of philosophy at Sheffield University

Donald Robertson, author of Stoicism and the Art of Happiness and The Philosophy of Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy: Stoicism as Rational and Cognitive Psychotherapy.

Patrick Ussher, editor of Stoicism Today

and Jules Evans, author of Philosophy for Life and Other Dangerous Situations

Other speakers will be announced in the next two months.

The pre-event fee is £15, which includes coffee, tea and lunch. The event will cost £20 on the door. We’re not making a profit from this event and none of the speakers are being paid – the ticket price is entirely to cover the overhead costs of the event.

This is a great event for any fans of Stoicism, or anyone interested in learning about this highly practical and therapeutic ancient philosophy, whose modern devotees include Arianna Huffington, Tom Wolfe, Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Elle MacPherson and Adrian Edmondson.”

6 thoughts on “Stoic Week 2014 & Stoicism Today Event in London”

Is there any chance of one keynote Stoic lecture from one of your panel’s experts? An obvious candidate is Christopher Gill on Marcus – given his recent translation and commentary. That would give some variation from the otherwise most enjoyable discussions and workshops.

One other matter, if there is another discussion similar to the one last time, can we have someone to put up a robust case for Stoicism? Most of the discussion panel were semi-detached at best, save only perhaps Chris Gill, who was handicapped by being the ultra fair minded moderator of the discussion. I enjoy a good critical discussion and find it very helpful in refining my own views but I do think that Stoicism deserves a whole hearted defender or two. I note that you have managed to get Angie Hobbs – who is terrific and am looking forward to hearing very much – but, up to now, I’ve never heard her find much to say in favour of Stoicism before. Quite the reverse in fact, although I may have not have heard her fully develop her views. Donald would be good and/or free Chris from his moderating duties. What about you Patrick? Channel your inner guard dog! (Sorry, straying into Cynic territory there.)

Many thanks for your message, Roger and yes, I think the Stoics will get a slightly fairer hearing this year, alright! 🙂 There will be an interesting range of keynotes and also Stoic life stories – personal testimonies of how people have been benefited by Stoicism.

I second this thought. For people who are truly interested and passionate in these subject areas but don’t have the means to get to the exact destination, a live video component would be extremely beneficial and rewarding.